Cabinet structure for storing at least one shoe

ABSTRACT

A cabinet structure for storing at least one shoe includes a body and a sliding frame set. The body includes a cabinet body and at least one door leaf. The door leaf can be movably assembled to a front side of the cabinet. The sliding frame set includes two fixing members, two sliding members and a frame. The two fixing members can be fixed respectively to an inner top surface and an inner bottom surface of the cabinet body. The two sliding members can be movably assembled to the fixing members respectively. A plurality of placement plates for placing the at least one shoe are arranged at the frame and pivoted between the two sliding members to facilitate a user to place shoes at two lateral sides of the frame and access shoes placed at each of the lateral sides by rotating the frame.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to shoe cabinets and more particularly toa cabinet structure configured to store shoes while making efficient useof the space inside the structure.

BACKGROUND

With the rise of living standards, it has been very common for one tohave many pairs of shoes. On average, therefore, a typical family mayhave dozens of pairs of shoes, which are usually stored in shoe cabinetslocated at the front door, or in the entry way, of the family'sdwelling.

Generally, a shoe cabinet includes a number of shelves placed in theinterior space of the cabinet to divide the space into a plurality ofstorage areas where a user of the cabinet may put his or her shoes whenthe shoes are not in use. Such a shoe cabinet not only allows shoes tobe neatly arranged on the shelves as opposed to being scattered aroundor piled up in a disorderly manner, but also protects the shoe surfacefrom contamination by dust, rainwater or other contaminants. Hence, shoecabinets have become an indispensable household item. However, theinternal shelves of a commercially available shoe cabinet are in mostcases fixed to the cabinet body in a horizontal manner and are thereforeperpendicular to the front side and backside of the cabinet body. Giventhat a typical shoe includes a relatively thin and flat toe box and arelatively high heel counter, the spacing between each two adjacentshelves of a conventional shoe cabinet must be determined by the heelcounter heights of the shoes to be stored in the cabinet, in order forthe cabinet to accommodate the shoes properly. This shelf arrangement,however, fails to make efficient use of those empty spaces in thecabinet that are adjacent to the toe boxes of the shoes. The veryarrangement also limits the number of shoes that can be placed in thecabinet, so a user having more shoes than can be stored in one shoecabinet cannot but use more shoe cabinets, which nevertheless causestrouble to families whose living space is at a premium e.g., thoseliving in apartments).

Moreover, people tend to put shoehorns, shoe polish, air fresheners andso on in a shoe cabinet for ease of use, but these additional items arebound to reduce the available storage space in the shoe cabinet. As asolution, it is common practice to provide a shoe cabinet with anadditional shelf or an auxiliary hanging member such as a storage tray,a net frame, a hook or even a dedicated supporting structure (for indoorslippers or books/newspapers for example). The conventional auxiliaryhanging members, however, have the following drawbacks:

(1) Generally, a conventional auxiliary hanging member is fixed to apanel of a shoe cabinet by screws, nails, adhesive or the like. Whilethe aforesaid fixing methods are effective in fixing auxiliary hangingmembers in position, they do not allow a fixed auxiliary hanging memberto be relocated with ease, thus limiting the use of the auxiliaryhanging member.

(2) Once a conventional auxiliary hanging member is removed from a shoecabinet, it is very likely that the surface of the cabinet is damaged(e.g., left with holes or residual adhesive) where the auxiliary hangingmember was fixed; that is to say, the surface integrity and appearanceof the shoe cabinet may have been impaired.

(3) When the objects stored via an auxiliary hanging member are to bechanged in terms of type or size, the auxiliary hanging member wouldgenerally also be replaced by a new one that matches the objects to bestored, but the conventional fixing methods (e.g., screws, nails andadhesive) tend to hinder such replacement.

The issue to be addressed by the present disclosure is to overcome theforegoing inadequacies of the conventional shoe cabinets and provide aproduct that can bring about better user experience and hence be favoredby its users.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One objective of the present disclosure is to provide a cabinetstructure for storing at least one shoe. The cabinet structure includesa body and a sliding frame set. The body includes a cabinet body and atleast one door leaf. The cabinet body is provided therein with anaccommodating space. The door leaf is movably assembled to a front sideof the cabinet body so as to expose the accommodating space when openedand shield the accommodating space when closed. The sliding frame setincludes two fixing members, two sliding members and a frame. The fixingmembers are fixed on an inner top surface and an inner bottom surface ofthe cabinet body respectively. The sliding members are assembled to, andcan be slid on, the fixing members respectively. The frame is providedwith a plurality of placement plates on which shoes can be placed. Theframe is pivotally connected, and hence rotatable, between the slidingmembers. A user, therefore, can place shoes on both sides of the frameand can access the shoes on either side of the frame by easily rotatingthe frame.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide a cabinetstructure as described above that is further equipped with at least oneauxiliary hanging member where objects can be placed or hung. Morespecifically, the body of the cabinet structure is provided with atleast one magnetic object and thus forms at least one magneticattraction region, and the auxiliary hanging member is provided with atleast one attracted region attractable to the magnetic attraction regionand can therefore be positioned on the body (e.g., the cabinet body orthe door leaf) of the cabinet structure to provide the cabinet structurewith more storage space. Not only can the position where the auxiliaryhanging member is fixed be easily and rapidly adjusted, but also theauxiliary hanging member can be replaced by a differently sizedcounterpart.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The objectives, technical features and effects of the present disclosurecan be better understood by referring to the following detaileddescription of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cabinet structure for storing atleast one shoe according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the cabinet structure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sliding frame set of the cabinetstructure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing how shoes are placed in the cabinetstructure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing how the sliding frame set of thecabinet structure in FIG. 1 is partially pulled out of the cabinetstructure;

FIG. 6 is a top view showing how the sliding frame set of the cabinetstructure in FIG. 1 is partially pulled out of the cabinet structure;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 5 except that the sliding frame set has beenrotated by 90 degrees;

FIG. 8 shows a state of use of the cabinet structure in FIG. 1 and ofsome auxiliary hanging members;

FIG. 9 shows how a magnetic object is coupled to a door leaf of thecabinet structure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 shows another way to couple a magnetic object to a door leaf ofthe cabinet structure in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 11 shows yet another way to couple a magnetic object to a door leafof the cabinet structure in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides a cabinet structure for storing at leastone shoe. In certain embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, the cabinetstructure 1 for storing at least one shoe includes a body 11 and asliding frame set 13. To facilitate description, the top side of eachcomponent described herein is defined as the side facing the top edge ofFIG. 1, the bottom side of each component is defined as the side facingthe bottom edge of FIG. 1, the front side of each component is definedas the side facing the lower left corner of FIG. 1, and the rear side ofeach component is defined as the side facing the upper right corner ofFIG. 1. The configuration of the cabinet structure 1 is by no meanslimited to that shown in FIG. 1, and all the components of the cabinetstructure 1 may be adjusted in configuration according to productrequirements, provided that the cabinet structure 1 has the essentialstructures and effects disclosed below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the body 11 includes a cabinet body 111 and two doorleaves 113 by way of example. In other embodiments, there may be onlyone door leaf 113 instead. The cabinet body 111 is provided therein withan accommodating space 110. The two door leaves 113 are movablyassembled to the front side of the cabinet body 111 and can be operatedby a user so that the accommodating space 110 is exposed when the doorleaves 113 are in an opened state and is shielded by the door leaves 113when the door leaves 113 are in a closed state. While the door leaves113 in this embodiment are shown in FIG. 1 as rotatable to the left andto the right, it is also feasible for the door leaves 113 to berotatable in the vertical direction instead, or be manufactured assliding doors or screens, provided that the door leaves 113 can beopened to expose the accommodating space 110 and closed to shield theaccommodating space 110.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 (which leaves out the door leaves 113 forthe sake of simplicity), the sliding frame set 13 includes two fixingmembers 131, two sliding members 133 and a frame 135. The fixing members131 are fixed on an inner top surface and an inner bottom surface of thecabinet body 111 respectively. In certain embodiments, the cabinet body111 is assembled from and includes a top plate 111A, a bottom plate 111Band a plurality of lateral plates 111C (e.g., a left plate, a rightplate and a rear plate), with the accommodating space 110 formed betweenthe plates. One of the fixing members 131 is located at a centralposition of the inner surface of the top plate 111A while the otherfixing member 131 is located at a central position of the inner surfaceof the bottom plate 111B.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 (with the door leaves 113 left out in FIG.3 too), the sliding members 133 are assembled to, and are configured tobe slid on, the fixing members 131 respectively. In certain embodiments,the fixing members 131 are configured as slide rails, and the slidingmembers 133 are configured as sliding blocks. In other embodiments, thefixing members 131 may be configured as sliding blocks instead, with thesliding members 133 configured as slide rails; or both the fixingmembers 131 and the sliding members 133 may be configured as sliderails. The present disclosure has no limitation on the configurations ofthe fixing members 131 and the sliding members 133, provided that thefixing members 131 and the sliding members 133 can work in conjunctionwith each other to enable smooth linear movement of the sliding members133 along the fixing members 131. In certain embodiments, the frame 135can be in the shape of a hollow rectangle and is clamped between thesliding members 133. The frame 135 can be clamped by the two slidingmembers 133 at a central position of the top surface of the frame 135and a central position of the bottom surface of the frame 135 (see FIG.2). A shaft 134 is provided at each of the two positions where the frame135 is clamped by the two sliding members 133, and the frame 135 ispivotally connected between the sliding members 133 via the shafts 134in order to be rotatable between the sliding members 133 about an axisdefined by the shafts 134.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the frame 135 is provided with aplurality of placement plates 137. Each two adjacent placement plates137 are spaced apart from each other and thereby form a storage area 138therebetween. A shoe S can be put into any of the storage areas 138 andplaced on the corresponding lower placement plate 137 (see FIG. 4). Incertain embodiments, the placement plates 137 are alternately arrangedin a zigzag manner such that each two adjacent placement plates 137 areinclined in different directions toward two opposite inner sides of thecabinet body 111 respectively. For example, one of each two adjacentplacement plates 137 is inclined toward the right plate of the cabinetbody 111 while the other placement plate 137 is inclined toward the leftplate of the cabinet body 111 to make efficient use of the otherwiseempty spaces corresponding to the toe boxes of the shoes S stored in thecabinet structure 1. The inclination angles as well as the spacing ofthe placement plates 137 can be adjusted according to practical needsand need not be uniform so as to enable flexible use of the cabinetstructure 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 7 (in which FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 also omit thedoor leaves 113 for the sake of simplicity), the cabinet structure 1 isso designed that when the sliding frame set 13 is in a storage state,the two sliding members 133, the frame 135 and the placement plates 137are completely stored in the accommodating space 110 of the cabinet body111. When a user takes out a pair of shoes S that are stored near therear side of the cabinet body 111, the two sliding members 133 can bemoved outward (or forward of the cabinet body 111, as indicated by thecentral dashed-line arrow in FIG. 6) along with the frame 135 and theplacement plates 137 until certain portions of the placement plates 137jut out of the accommodating space 110 (see FIG. 5). Then, the frame 135can be rotated either to the left or to the right (as indicated by thetwo outer dashed-line arrows in FIG. 6), For example, the frame 135 andthe placement plates 137 in FIG. 7 have been rotated by 90 degrees suchthat shoes S facing the rear side of the cabinet body 111 in the firstplace are no longer at their original positions. Once the frame 135 andthe placement plates 137 are rotated by 180 degrees, the user can easilyaccess any shoes S that were previously adjacent to the rear side of thecabinet body 111.

After taking out the intended pair of shoes S, referring again to FIG. 1to FIG. 7, the user may directly move the sliding members 133, the frame135 and the placement plates 137 inward (or toward the rear side of thecabinet body 111, as indicated by the central dashed-line arrow in FIG.6) until the sliding frame set 13 is in the storage state again.Alternatively, the user may rotate the frame 135 and the placementplates 137 through 180 degrees and then bring the sliding frame set 13back to the storage state. The user, therefore, may place thosefrequently used shoes S in the storage areas 138 on one side of theframe 135 and those less frequently used shoes S in the storage areas138 on the opposite side of the frame 135. Compared with theconventional shoe cabinets, the cabinet structure 1 can store more shoesS and is more user-friendly because shoes S on different sides of theframe 135 can be accessed simply by rotating the frame 135.

To utilize the storage space of the cabinet structure 1 even moreefficiently, referring to FIG. 8 (in which the sliding frame set 13 isomitted for the sake of simplicity), one of the cabinet body 111 and thedoor leaves 113 is provided with at least one magnetic object 115 andthus forms at least one magnetic attraction region. In certainembodiments, a plurality of magnetic strips are provided at the innersurfaces of the door leaves 113 as the magnetic objects 115. In otherembodiments, the locations and configuration of the magnetic objects 115may be adjusted according to product requirements (e.g., at least one ofthe lateral plates 111C is provided with at least one magnetic sheet,magnetic block or other magnet element). In certain embodiments, eachmagnetic object 115 may be directly attached to the surface of thecorresponding door leaf 113 (or of the cabinet body 111), as shown inFIG. 9; or be embedded in the corresponding door leaf 113 (or thecabinet body 111), with the exposed surface of the magnetic object 115flush with the surface of the corresponding door leaf 113 (or of thecabinet body 111), as shown in FIG. 10; or be embedded in thecorresponding door leaf 113 (or the cabinet body 111) and then covered(and thus hidden behind) a decorative sheet 116 of the correspondingdoor leaf 113 (or of the cabinet body 111), as shown in FIG. 11, lestthe magnetic objects 115 be exposed to view and compromise the look ofthe cabinet structure 1.

In addition, with continued reference to FIG. 8, the cabinet structure 1includes at least one auxiliary hanging member 117. Each auxiliaryhanging member 117 is provided with at least one attracted region 1171to be attracted to any one of the magnetic attraction regions so as tosecure the auxiliary hanging member 117 to one of the door leaves 113(or to the cabinet body 111). Each attracted region 1171 can be formedas follows:

(1) An attracted region 1171 may be formed h an element with magneticpermeability (e.g., a metal plate or magnet) that is added to thecorresponding auxiliary hanging member 117; or

(2) An auxiliary hanging member 117 may be made, either entirely orpartially, of an element with magnetic permeability such that theelement with magnetic permeability forms an attracted region 1171.

With continued reference to FIG. 8, the auxiliary hanging members 117may be configured as plate bodies, net frames or hooks where objects(e.g., indoor slippers, shoehorns and shoe polish) can be placed orwhere hanging objects (e.g., hanging air fresheners) can be hung. Thepositions of the auxiliary hanging members 117 can be freely adjusted asneeded within areas where the magnetic objects 115 (i.e., the magneticattraction regions) can provide magnetic attraction. In addition, eachauxiliary hanging member 117 can be easily detached from thecorresponding magnetic object(s) 115 (i.e., the corresponding magneticattraction region(s)) as well as replaced by an auxiliary hanging member117 of a different size or configuration to make more room for storage,not to mention that more auxiliary hanging members 117 can be easilyattached to the magnetic objects 115 (i.e., the magnetic attractionregions) if necessary.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means ofspecific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could bemade thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from thescope of the disclosure set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cabinet structure for storing at least one shoe, comprising: a body comprising: a cabinet body having an accommodating space therein; and at least one door leaf movably assembled to a front side of the cabinet, configured to be opened or closed to expose or shield the accommodating space; a sliding frame set comprising: two fixing members respectively fixable to an inner top surface and an inner bottom surface of the cabinet body; two sliding members, each configured to be assembled to and slide on a corresponding one of the fixing members; a frame clamped between the sliding members and rotatable between the sliding members via shafts set respectively at positions of the frame that are clamped by the sliding members; and a plurality of placement plates for placing the at least one shoe, each arranged at the frame.
 2. The cabinet structure according to claim 1, wherein each two adjacent ones of the placement plates are respectively inclined toward two opposite sides of the cabinet body, so that inclining directions of the adjacent two placing plates are different.
 3. The cabinet structure according to claim 2, wherein the cabinet body comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a plurality of lateral plates, one of the fixing members is located at a central position of an inner surface of the top plate, and the other one of the fixing members is located at a central position on an inner surface of the bottom plate.
 4. The cabinet structure according to claim 3, wherein the sliding members are respectively clamped at central positions of a top surface and a bottom surface of the frame.
 5. The cabinet structure of claim 1, further comprising at least one accessory hanging member for placing or hanging at least one item, wherein at least one of the cabinet body and the door leaf is provided with at least one magnetic object to form at least one magnetic attraction region, the auxiliary hanging member has at least one attracted region for being attracted onto the magnetic attraction region, so that the auxiliary hanging member can be positioned on the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 6. The cabinet structure of claim 2, further comprising at least one accessory hanging member for placing or hanging at least one item, wherein at least one of the cabinet body and the door leaf is provided with at least one magnetic object to form at least one magnetic attraction region, the auxiliary hanging member has at least one attracted region for being attracted onto the magnetic attraction region, so that the auxiliary hanging member can be positioned on the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 7. The cabinet structure of claim 3, further comprising at least one accessory hanging member for placing or hanging at least one item, wherein at least one of the cabinet body and the door leaf is provided with at least one magnetic object to form at least one magnetic attraction region, the auxiliary hanging member has at least one attracted region for being attracted onto the magnetic attraction region, so that the auxiliary hanging member be positioned on the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 8. The cabinet structure of claim 4, further comprising at least one accessory hanging member for placing or hanging at least one item, wherein at least one of the cabinet body and the door leaf is provided with at least one magnetic object to form at least one magnetic attraction region, the auxiliary hanging member has at least one attracted region for being attracted onto the magnetic attraction region, so that the auxiliary hanging member can be positioned on the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 9. The cabinet structure according to claim 5, wherein the magnetic object is directly attachable to a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 10. The cabinet structure according to claim 6, wherein the magnetic object is directly attachable to a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 11. The cabinet structure according to claim 7, wherein the magnetic object is directly attachable to a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 12. The cabinet structure according to claim 8, wherein the magnetic object is directly attachable to a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 13. The cabinet structure according to claim 5, wherein the magnetic object is embedded on a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf, and an exposed surface of the magnetic material is flush with the surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 14. The cabinet structure according to claim 6, wherein the magnetic object is embedded on a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf, and an exposed surface of the magnetic material is flush with the surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 15. The cabinet structure according to claim 7, wherein the magnetic object is embedded on a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf, and an exposed surface of the magnetic material is flush with the surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 16. The cabinet structure according to claim 8, wherein the magnetic object is embedded on a surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf, and an exposed surface of the magnetic material is flush with the surface of the cabinet body or the door leaf.
 17. The cabinet structure according to claim 5, further comprising at least one decorative sheet for covering the magnetic attraction region and hide the magnetic object.
 18. The cabinet structure according to claim 6, further comprising at least one decorative sheet for covering the magnetic attraction region and hide the magnetic object.
 19. The cabinet structure according to claim 7, further comprising at least one decorative sheet for covering the magnetic attraction region and hide the magnetic object.
 20. The cabinet structure according to claim 8, further comprising at least one decorative sheet for covering the magnetic attraction region and hide the magnetic object.
 21. The cabinet structure according to claim 5, wherein the magnetic object is a magnetic strip, a magnetic sheet or a magnetic block.
 22. The cabinet structure according to claim 6, wherein the magnetic object is a magnetic strip, a magnetic sheet or a magnetic block.
 23. The cabinet structure according to claim 7, wherein the magnetic object is a magnetic strip, a magnetic sheet or a magnetic block.
 24. The cabinet structure according to claim 8, wherein the magnetic object is a magnetic strip, a magnetic sheet or a magnetic block.
 25. The shoe cabinet structure according to claim 5, wherein the accessory hanging member is a plate body, a net frame or a hook.
 26. The shoe cabinet structure according to claim 6, wherein the accessory hanging member is a plate body, a net frame or a hook.
 27. The shoe cabinet structure according to claim 7, wherein the accessory hanging member is a plate body, a net frame or a hook.
 28. The shoe cabinet structure according to claim 8, wherein the accessory hanging member is a plate body, a net frame or a hook. 